In recent years, mobile terminals equipped with nonvolatile memories of comparatively large storage capacity have been developed for storing application programs. The mobile terminals can execute application programs stored in the nonvolatile memory. These application programs may not be stored in the nonvolatile memory when the mobile terminals are purchased by their users. The users of the mobile terminals can delete unnecessary application programs from the nonvolatility memories, and write other application programs into the nonvolatility memories. Therefore, a user of a mobile terminal can use new application programs without replacing an old mobile terminal with a new mobile terminal.
In some mobile terminals that can write application programs into the memories, Java virtual machines are installed. Mobile terminals in which Java virtual machines are installed can download Java application programs (including Java applets) through mobile communication networks. In addition, the mobile terminals can write the downloaded Java application programs into their nonvolatility memories, and execute the programs. (Application programs including applets are referred to as “applications” hereinafter.)
The above-mentioned mobile terminals can be inconvenient to use in situations where their users want to access several applications in a series of operations. For example, a user of a mobile terminal needs to access application A for making an application for purchasing commodities by mail order, and application B for making the payment for the purchases. In the present example, the user first makes an application for the purchase of a certain commodity using application A. At this stage, the user has not yet made the payment for the purchased commodity. To make the payment, the user writes down on a piece of paper the necessary information for making the payment, namely the amount, the name of the bank to which the money is to be remitted, the bank account details for making the remittance, and so on. The user then terminates application A.
Next, the user accesses application B to remit the funds to make the payment. By using application B, the user can remit the desired amount of funds from a certain bank account of the user to any appointed bank account. The user refers to the information that was previously written on the piece of paper and inputs the payment amount, the name of the bank, the bank account details for the remittance, and so on, into the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal then executes application B. The user terminates application B, and starts application A again to confirm that the remittance was done successfully and that all the procedures for purchasing the merchandise have been completed. The user inputs a command so that the mobile terminal, which is executing application A, displays a screen showing the commodity purchase history. The user confirms that the remittance for the purchased commodity has been confirmed by the seller, and at the same time, the user gets some additional information such as the date of delivery of the commodity, etc.
As the above-mentioned example describes, users of mobile terminals need to change applications and input necessary data manually when users need to make several applications using a series of operations. As a result, the operations take time and the users may feel the operations bothersome. In addition, mistakes may occur while inputting information, which can cause problems in conducting business.